2025 IndiGo disruption

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2025 IndiGo disruption
Date2–9 December 2025 (2025-12-02 – 2025-12-09)
LocationIndia
TypeFlight cancellations
CauseFailure to adjust schedule to new crew worktime and rest rules
PerpetratorIndiGo
Outcome4,500 flights canceled
as of 12 December[1]

In December 2025, IndiGo, India's largest airline, experienced a scheduling crisis, which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. The issue arose after its failure to adjust to the new flight crew time limitations mandated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of the Government of India. The crisis started on 2 December and the airline, which had a domestic market share of more than 60%, cancelled nearly 4,500 flights over the next ten days.

In response, the DGCA relaxed some of the rules, and gave IndiGo a temporary exemption from them till February 2026. It also placed caps on airfares, and ordered IndiGo to complete all pending refunds for the disruption. The Ministry of Civil Aviation ordered an inquiry into the incident, and sent a show cause notice to the airline. It later ordered the airline to cut its existing services by ten percent. Cancellations started to taper off on 8 December, though they continued into the second week of December.

Background

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IndiGo was India's largest airline with nearly 64.2% market share in August 2025, and had an on-time performance of 90.2%, the best of any airline in India.[2][3] It also had a cancellation rate of 0.51% in October 2025, the lowest amongst the large Indian airlines.[4] IndiGo's market share was at its peak, increasing due to the failure of competitors such as Jet Airways and GoAir over the previous few years, and was one of the highest compared to other major aviation markets.[5][6]

In June 2024, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of the Government of India announced new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules, which increased pilot rest periods and reduced night time work. IndiGo and other major airlines pushed back on the changes, delaying its implementation until 2025. The first phase of the rules were implemented effective July, and the second phase was scheduled to be implemented from 1 November.[7][8][9] Earlier, the DGCA had approved a winter schedule of 15,014 weekly departures for IndiGo, which was a six percent increase from the summer schedule of the same year and nearly ten percent increase compared to the previous winter. The approval was given based on an estimated aircraft availability of 403 against 351 in the summer while the airlines was able to operate only 339 aircraft in October and 344 in November.[10]

The new rules limited the night landing for the crew from six to two per week, which led to operational issues for IndiGo. It had reported 1,232 flight cancellations in November, 755 of which were due to crew and FDTL-related constraints, and the failure incidents dropped the on time performance of the airline from 84.1% in October, to 67.7% in November.[7][11]

Crisis

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The crisis began on 2 December when an increasing number of flights were cancelled, and peaked at roughly 1,600 cancellations on a 5 December.[12][13] The crisis severely interrupted domestic flight operations in India as the disruption coincided with India's peak wedding season during the winter months.[14] IndiGo estimated that normal operations would be restored between 10–15 December.[5] Cancellations started to taper off on 8 December, though they continued throughout the week.[15]

IndiGo flight statistics
Date Flights cancelled On-time Performance
October 84.1%[7]
November 1,232 total 67.7%[7]
1 December 49.5%[16]
2 December 35%[16]
3 December 200+[17] 19.7%[18]
4 December 550[19] 8.5%[18]
5 December ~1600[12]
6 December ~800[12]
7 December 650[12]
8 December 650[13]
9 December ~400[20]

Response

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On 3 December, IndiGo issued an apology and initimated that is has initiated temporary schedule adjustments to stabilise operations over the next two days.[21][7] On 5 December, DGCA granted IndiGo a temporary exemption from some of the new FDTL rules, notably, the night duty rules and leave-for-rest norm.[22] The exemption was extended until 10 February, with a periodic review of crew utilisation every 15 days and a mandate for IndiGo to share a roadmap to full compliance.[13] However, the move was criticised by pilot unions as compromising on the safety of flights.[23] On the same day, the Ministry of Civil Aviation setup a hotline to assist passengers affected by the service disruption and ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident.[16][24] The Indian Railways added 116 extra coaches across 37 trains to cater to the additional demand.[25]

On 6 December, IndiGo promised full refunds for those affected by cancellations, and the DGCA ordered the airline to complete all pending refunds for the disruption by the next day.[19] IndiGo estimated that it would have to refund ₹5 billion (US$59 million) to customers as a result of the disruptions.[1] As fares rose on other airlines in response to the disruptions, the union government placed price caps on the airfare.[26][27] The DCGA sent a show cause notice to IndiGo asking for a response within 24 hours, pending regulatory action to be taken against the airline.[28][29] On 9 December, the DGCA ordered five percent cuts on IndiGo flight schedule that was later amended to ten percent by the ministry of civil aviation due to IndiGo's inability to conduct flight operations efficiently.[10][30]

On 11 December, the DCGA issued an order to terminate the employment of four contracted inspectors of flight operations and return them to their parent organizations, after questions were raised in the media about the DGCA’s oversight, including whether it had adequately assessed IndiGo’s pilot strength before approving an increase in flights in the winter schedule and the airline’s preparedness to comply with revised pilot duty and rest norms.[31] As part of its inquiry, the DGCA summoned Pieter Elbers, the CEO of IndiGo on 12 December, to seek explanation regarding the restoration of flight operations, recruitment of additional pilots, and the process for issuing refunds and compensation to affected passengers.[31]

Causes

[edit]

While IndiGo's failure to adjust to the FDTL rules was the major reason behind the crisis,[5] the airline cited technology issues (such as the A320 software update), seasonal schedule realignment, airport congestion, and adverse weather conditions as other reasons behind the disruptions.[21] In response to the disruptions, the Federation of Indian Pilots pointed out that other airlines had adapted to the rule without any major impact on the services and that IndiGo's challenges stemmed from "years of lean manpower planning" and delayed hiring, non-poaching arrangements and other short-sighted planning practices.[7][21] IndiGo had seen a slower growth of pilot strength relative to the expansion of its fleet, with 1,247 pilots added for 91 additional aircraft between 2022 to 2024, compared to the addition of 1,420 pilots corresponding to 61 added aircraft for Air India in the same time period.[32]

Reactions

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Elbers made a public apology on social media acknowledging the severe disruptions and promised a return to function of normalisation of services.[11] Additionally, the airline stated that its board had set up a crisis management group to address the issue.[33] K. Rammohan Naidu, the minister of civil aviation, said in the Indian Parliament that the government will initiate appropriate action against IndiGo for the crisis, and blamed the chaos on poor crew-roster management rather than technical glitches. He said that this was not just about punishing one airline, but about setting an example for the entire civil-aviation sector.[34]

Public commentators saw IndiGo's market dominance as a exacerbating factor, with Air Deccan founder G. R. Gopinath critiquing the duopoly between IndiGo and Air India in the airline industry and stating the former would possibly be unable to recover from the crisis.[35][36] Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, claimed that the crisis represented a failure of the government and called for "fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies". Naidu responded that the government "has always aimed to increase competition" and that the disruption were not a political but rather a public issue.[37] Shashi Tharoor decried the lack of responsibility taken by and poor response from IndiGo and civil aviation authorities as well as profiteering in the aviation market during the disruptions.[38]

The IndiGo stock shed almost ₹400 billion (US$4.7 billion) in market value from 2 to 9 December, leading to a 15% decrease in market value. However, BofA securities and Goldman Sachs maintained a 'buy' position with the former estimating a nine percent cut to the quarterly net income and the later expecting the stock to remain volatile but stable due to its dominant market position, low cost structure, and expanding demand in India.[39][40] Meanwhile, Moody's downgraded IndiGo’s human capital issuer score from three to four, terming the disruptions as "credit negative" for IndiGo but adding that fundamentals of its Baa3 rating remain strong, including its leading market share and healthy demand for air travel in India, predicting IndiGo's long-term leverage to be sustainable.[41] Jeffries removed IndiGo from its India model portfolio for 2026.[42]

References

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  1. ^ a b "India's IndiGo estimates over $55 million payout to customers following flight cancellations". Reuters. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  2. ^ Dutta, Tanushka (4 October 2025). "IndiGo Tops Market Share And Punctuality, FlyBig Sees Most Cancellations". NDTV. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  3. ^ Ganapavaram, Abhijith (8 December 2025). "Too big to fail? IndiGo crisis exposes risks in Indian aviation". Reuters. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  4. ^ Kamat, Soumil (4 October 2025). "IndiGo Tops Market Share In Aviation, Check How Other Airlines Fared". NDTV. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "IndiGo: How India's largest airline lost control and sent air travel into chaos". BBC News. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  6. ^ Saha, Bidisha (8 December 2025). "Monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies: IndiGo's unique grip on global market". India Today. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Why IndiGo has been hit so hard by new flight duty time limitation rules, explained". The Indian Express. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Chaos as Indian airline IndiGo flights severely disrupted". DW. 4 December 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
  9. ^ Shankar, Priyanka (8 December 2025). "IndiGo chaos: Why is India's largest airline canceling hundreds of flights?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b "DGCA slashes IndiGo flights by 5%, govt doubles it to 10%". The Times of India. 10 December 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Indigo canceled more than 1000 flights: The real reason behind these cancellations explained". The Times of India. 6 December 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d "IndiGo to operate 1,650 flights on December 7, cancels 650". The Hindu. 7 December 2025. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  13. ^ a b c ""Lapses In Planning, Resource Management": Moody's On IndiGo Crisis". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 8 December 2025. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  14. ^ "IndiGo chaos spoils Indian wedding parties". Reuters. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  15. ^ Lalitha, S. (14 December 2025). "Caught in a perfect storm: How IndiGo flew into an avoidable crisis". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  16. ^ a b c Gupta, Shobhit (5 December 2025). "Over 1,000 IndiGo Flights Cancelled, Govt Sets Up Panel To Probe Disruptions: Top Points". News18. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  17. ^ "IndiGo crisis deepens as cancellations top 300". Financial Express. 4 December 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  18. ^ a b "IndiGo's On-Time Performance slumps to 8.5%". The Hindu. 5 December 2025. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Sorry again: IndiGo offers full refunds from Dec 5–15, accommodation amid chaos". India Today. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  20. ^ "Nearly 400 Indigo flights cancelled on December 9 amid stabilising operations". The New Indian Express. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  21. ^ a b c Gupta, Shobhit (3 December 2025). "Over 100 IndiGo Flights Cancelled As Major Disruptions Hit Delhi, Mumbai, Other Key Airports". News18. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  22. ^ "DGCA Eases Night-Duty Rules for IndiGo, Rolls Back Leave-For-Rest Norm; What it Means For Flyers Now?". Times Now. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  23. ^ "India warns IndiGo of regulatory action and takes action to cap airfare surge". Reuters. 6 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  24. ^ "Statement by Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Ram Mohan Naidu on the Indigo Service Disruption". Press Information Bureau (Press release). 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  25. ^ "IndiGo disruptions: Railways to add more coaches in 37 premium trains amid 400+ flight cancellations – Details inside". Live Mint. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  26. ^ Chandra, Jagriti (6 December 2025). "IndiGo flight disruptions Day 5: Centre imposes caps on 'unusually high fares', orders to complete passenger refunds by December 7". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  27. ^ "India caps airfares as IndiGo crisis leaves hundreds stranded for fifth day". Reuters. 6 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  28. ^ "India warns IndiGo of regulatory action and takes action to cap airfare surge". Reuters. 6 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  29. ^ "Known for 'internationalisation' of IndiGo, its CEO for 3 years Pieter Elbers gets show cause notice". 7 December 2025. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  30. ^ "India orders IndiGo to cut 10% of flights after mass cancellations". Reuters. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  31. ^ a b "DGCA sacks four flight operations inspectors in connection with IndiGo flight disruptions". The Hindu. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
  32. ^ Gera, Ishaan (8 December 2025). "Indigo has added cockpit crew at slowest pace among major carriers post-pandemic". Money Control. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  33. ^ "IndiGo board's crisis management group regularly monitoring situation: Airline". The Hindu. Press Trust of India. 7 December 2025. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  34. ^ "'Very, very strict action': Aviation minister vows to 'set an example' after IndiGo fiasco; what he said in Rajya Sabha". The Times of India. 8 December 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  35. ^ "How India's flight meltdown exposes the dangers of IndiGo's monopoly". The Economic Times. 6 December 2025. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  36. ^ "Watch - 'IndiGo Guilty of Arrogance and Irresponsibility; CEO Should Resign': Air Deccan Founder". The Wire. 8 December 2025. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  37. ^ "IndiGo turmoil: Centre slams Rahul Gandhi's 'monopoly model' remark; claims govt promotes competition". The Times of India. 7 December 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  38. ^ Tharoor, Shashi (6 December 2025). "What The IndiGo Crisis Reveals About The Fragility Of Indian Aviation". NDTV. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  39. ^ "IndiGo shares snap seven day of losses but analysts expect stock to remain volatile". CNBC TV18. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  40. ^ Ali, Anas (9 December 2025). "IndiGo Target Price Cut By Brokerages Amid Flight Disruptions". NDTV. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  41. ^ "IndiGo Fiasco Aftermath: Moody's warns of revenue loss, downgrades score on human capital". CNBCTV18. 8 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  42. ^ Sharma, Veer (9 December 2025). "Jefferies revamps 2026 portfolio: Cuts Indigo; adds BPCL, Axis Bank, 4 other stocks". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 10 December 2025.